New Delhi, Nov. 6 -- Earlier this week, public health physician and urban epidemiologist Tolullah Oni went for a morning run in Bengaluru. She carried an air pollution monitor and her UrbanBetter Cityzens app to collect data on AQI, walkability and the habits of citizens, something she does in every city she's in. "It was a short run, and the AQI was very good early in the morning. It gave me hope," said the University of Cambridge professor, who was in the city to speak at the Nobel Prize Dialogue 2025.

Hope is a word Dr. Oni uses a lot. For her, effective urban governance rests largely on hope, which is distinct from optimism or any of its other usual synonyms. And in the current euphoria over Zohran Mamdani's win in the New York City ...